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As mobile payment and Internet services have matured in recent years, the online shopping industry is thriving. An increasing number of people choose to shop online instead of shopping in brick-and-mortar shops due to lower prices and greater convenience.
Online shopping has become popular
There’s no doubt that ‘Double Eleven’ as 11 November has come to be known in China, has become the biggest online shopping carnival in China. Most Chinese students at SCNU have trained themselves as veterans in the annual shopping bonanza. But how do the international students spend the day? Here’s a simple survey done among the international students of SCNU.
The details of the survey are as follows:
Yes | No | |
Have you ever heard of ‘Double Eleven’? | 80% | 20% |
Have you ever used online shopping apps like Taobao or Jingdong? | 100% | 0% |
Do you often shop online? | 62.5% | 37.5% |
Would you buy things you don’t need due to their low prices? | 40% | 60% |
In order to know the attitudes of international students about ‘Double Eleven’, our reporter interviewed the Japanese international student, Fukunaga.
R: Is there an online shopping day like ‘Double Eleven’ in Japan?
F: Yes. It’s Ohitorisama Day, held by Lotte, this year. Yahoo also held online shopping day, starting from this year.
R: It’s my first time to hear about it. Compared with ‘Double Eleven’, which is more popular?
F: Of course, it’s China’s ‘Double Eleven’. Most of people in Japan don’t know about it since it’s the first year the online shopping day was held.
R: I see. So, did you often do online shopping in Japan? Or did you start online shopping after coming to China?
F: About 4 to 5 years ago I started shopping online in Japan. I liked to shop at Amazon. And I shopped online at least twice a month.
R: Did you buy all the things you want on ‘Double Eleven’?
F: Well, it was first time for me to enjoy ‘Double Eleven’. I have only been staying in China for about 2 months, so, there weren’t that many things I wanted to buy. But next time, I think I would buy all the things I want at once on 11 November.
R: Would you buy things you don’t need just because they’re cheap?
F: I don’t think I would.
R: Do you know that there was a coupon on Taobao? Shoppers who spent more than 400 yuan, could get a discount of 50 yuan using the coupon.
F: Yes, I know. I would have liked to use it.
R: What if the total amount of your goods doesn’t reach 400 yuan?
F: I would buy some more things.
R: But then you would spend more money than were planning to.
F: If it costs an extra 100 yuan, it’s OK.
R: Thanks for your answers.
F: You’re welcome.
From the interview above, we can see Fukunaga’s relatively reasonable attitude towards online shopping. When it comes to ourselves, reflecting on it, do you have the tendency of becoming an online shopaholic?
Online shopping is indeed convenient and helpful to save money to certain degree, but once practised unchecked, it even makes you spend more money. Watch your purse on next ‘Double Eleven’.
Written by Li Xinyi
Proofread by Edwin Bakk
Edited by Li Jianru
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